aMAYzing

Well, I have been a slacker but here is the start of several new posts to come. We walked to the Greek Festival in the middle of may to enjoy a delicious gyro lunch. I'd walk 1.75 miles to get one of those again. Yum. We didn't stick around for any of the other attractions but I'm sure it was basically the same as last year.

We have been enjoying a little bit of pool time around here too. Denzil loves splashing and kicking his legs around. I think we've got a water baby on our hands.
Oh, and eating paper never gets old. We just try to keep it out of his reach for the most part.

Tractor Pull

On Saturday we decided to make a trip to the Farmer's Market to see about getting some delicious strawberries and just see what kind of stuff they had. As we were turning in we saw a sign that said there was a tractor pull and show with free admission just 2 miles up the road. Well, who can resist something like that??!! So, we decided to come back to the farmer's market after we made a stop at the tractor show. We spent several hours there and got to see quite a few things.

This is an old steam engine tractor. It was running and seemed to be in good shape.

This old guy had this machine rigged up to a pencil sharpener.
Note the pencil behind my ear, it was our little gift from the old guy above.
During the tractor pull they had all sorts of tractors involved. At the end they had the souped up tractors go. They were pretty loud and little Denzil slept right through it. He was a little bit tired.

Update

Here are a few pictures from the last couple of weeks. I guess Denzil needs more fiber because he loves to eat paper and cardboard.

This picture was not staged, he sure is liking his books more and more.
He even wants to learn about Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support!
We did the Race for the Cure again this year. We walked about half and tried to run the rest. It was a bit hard because there were sooooo many walkers and so I had to weave around them to keep running. We had a great time.
This is Marshall and Denzil after the race just hanging out and discovering the other little person. They liked to touch each other and grab each other's toes.
Going shopping anyone??
Denzil loves to ride in the shopping carts now. His expression here doesn't do it justice but he really had a great time kicking his legs, tasting the cart, and hanging onto the cart.

8 Months

This post is from Denzil:

I've been 8 months now for a few days and let me tell you all the great things I'm up to. A few days ago I figured out how to sit myself up on my own. Then, to top that off I figured out how to crawl. I'm not too quick yet but I'm certainly getting better at it. Today I tried to take some of the books out of the bookshelf...I think that is going to be a fun thing to do. I'm working on getting my top two teeth in, they are right where mom can see them and let me tell you she is a little bit scared because I like to bite her sometimes and I'll be even better at it with 4 teeth. I'm getting so big and I love to smile and I laugh really hard when my daddy and mommy tickle me, especially daddy. I'm a pretty good eater. I love oatmeal and I've liked everything that I've eaten up to now. I had a hard time eating peas the other day but who can blame me...peas are gross, at least that's what mom says. I travel pretty well in the car, I've started falling asleep pretty quickly when we get going on our trips. I'm a pretty good sleeper too. I sleep from about 8 pm to 7 am give or take a few minutes. I'm starting to like reading books a little bit more but sometimes I still prefer to taste the pages rather than listen to the story. I like it when my mom sings to me, sometimes it's quite silly too. Well, enjoy the pictures and little video.

This was Denzil's first trip to the temple in Raleigh. Kris did a session while Denzil and mom walked around the grounds and played on blanket at the church building next door.
Our stake had a day of service yesterday in Pilot Mountain. Denzil and his friends were great! Chase slept and Lucas and Denzil cheered on the group. It was a beautiful day and nice that we could help out.

1st Camping Trip for Denzil

For our anniversary present to each other we bought a bigger tent so that we can do a little bit of camping with Denzil. We tested it out last weekend at Stone Mountain state park. It was fabulous! Our friends, Steve & Elyse along with their baby Chase, were there and the babies did great! They both slept through the night and did great on the hike the next day.

Biltmore Estate

One of the "must see" destinations in North Carolina is the Biltmore Estate. It is still the largest family owned estate in the United States. It is 125,000 acres! The house, if you can call it that, has 250 rooms, 34 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms and is ENORMOUS! One of our favorite rooms was the Banquet Hall. The ceiling in there was 7 stories high. It was done in a mid-evil theme and had a bunch of animal mounts. We asked the lady where they came from and I guess Mr. Vanderbilt bought them from someone in Washington state. There was an elk head that had the hugest spread. It was at least as wide as my out stretched arms but probably bigger than that. The antlers weren't real big around but it was soo wide.

The gardens were just getting colorful. I bet the Azaleas would have been beautiful if we went 1 week later. But the tulips were great and some of the trees were flowering.

Denzil got a bit worn out with all the walking around. He drools a lot and so his chin is kind of chaffed here because of that.


Another beautiful day and fun trip.

Charleston, SC

For Kris' spring break my mom was able to get us 2 nights stay in Charleston. We have been told by numerous people that it is a "must see" while you are in the South. Our first stop there was the South Carolina Aquarium. I guess I haven't been to too many aquariums but I expected more than what I got. It was neat, don't get me wrong, but I'm pretty sure that there are better ones out there for the same price or less. Anyway, it was fun to pick up the star fish and see a bunch of fish and turtles.

This is an albino alligator. You don't find these in the wild very often because when one is born they usually don't survive for very long because of their sensitivity to light.

Good thing I've already found my prince charming because this kiss didn't get me anything;)

We went to the Boone Hall Plantation which neat. At it's largest it was about 4,000 acres. I think it's around 700-800 acres now. The first house built there was in 1790. I learned that back in the day ladies weren't supposed to show their ankles and if a man did see her ankles he was obligated to ask for her hand in marriage. Oh how times have changed.

This is the USS Clamagore. We got to walk through it and I'm so glad that I don't have to live on a submarine. Talk about close quarters! If I had to be on one I'd like to be the Captain. He is the only one who gets his own room. The crew got to sleep in shifts so they would share their bed with 2 or more other people.

This is the USS Yorktown. It's a ship that is now a museum.
Cheese! This is on the ferry that takes you to Fort Sumter. Notice the tear in his eye, it was pretty windy.


Folly Beach, SC

This is Denzil's first trip to the beach. I think he enjoyed himself. Too bad I forgot his swimsuit.


Fort Moultrie, Mt. Pleasant, SC

This fort had some Revolutionary War significance. Fort Sumter sits on an island across from this fort.

Denzil's 1st Easter

Me being the lame mom that I am, the only thing I got for my baby's first Easter was some empty plastic eggs and a bottle of bubbles. He sure liked his eggs though. This is the first time in a LONG time that I have had an Easter basket with a few goodies. Maybe next year I'll get more into it. Good thing Denzil has awesome Grandma's that sent packages of things for our little boy to enjoy.

Grayson Highlands, VA

A few weeks back Kris had some time off after taking one of the biggest tests of his medical life, so we ventured just across the border into Virginia to Grayson Highlands state park. From there you can get onto the Appalachian trail and you can see "wild" ponies and you can actually see your surroundings because it isn't so thick with trees. It was a beautiful day and we were able to hike for several miles. Denzil did great and I think he might have even enjoyed himself.